Washington State University, Intercollegiate School of Nursing has arrived!

They all survived the 26 hour non sleep trip to Iquitos and looked great! Keep your eye on this blog and see what they write each day. Their updates should be informative, entertaining and a good reminder of why we (People of Peru Project) are here and why they are volunteering to provide these much needed services. Stay tuned...they are sleeping now!

BELEN

As our first trip after arriving to Peru, we spent the afternoon touring Belen. I can honestly say that this was the most life-changing experience I have ever had.

I came to Iquitos because I wanted to make a difference in the lives of poor families; I felt like I could make a big impact because I speak Spanish.Little did I know that the biggest impact would be on me.

Seeing the immense poverty made me think of my life and everything I have been taking for granted.I had seen commercials on TV showing young children living in some of the most desperate situations imaginable, however seeing it in real life and on a much larger scale is truly an experience I cannot adequately express in words.In my mind, it had almost seemed like a vicious cycle that was impossible to change.However, seeing the People of Peru Project and the positive impact they are having gives me hope for the future of this community and its precious children.

Working with People of Peru Project and sharing their mission of peace and healing has renewed my belief that it IS POSSIBLE to make a positive difference in the world and has further strengthened my desire to pursue a career as an international nurse, only now my focus has grown to include missionary nursing as well.

By Alissa Watts

Prep time

The Instructors sit down with POPP staff to finalize the schedule and make some last minute changes.

Marcos, POPP's Lead translator, gives a Spanish lesson in preparation for this afternoon's community health survey.

The first day after arrival the students begin to package medicine for the medical clinics they will be doing in the poor communities. Simple vitamins are out of the financial reach of most of the people they will serve.

Saturday- first medical clinic....lots of people...lots of needs.....

Experience with first clinical:

When we first arrived from the bus there was down pouring rain and we didn't´t know what to expect. We were both excited and nervous about what was to come.

Before we even arrived there were lines of people already waiting. There were primarily women and children. The nursing students were separated into different sections. There was triage, pediatrics, adults, and pharmacy. Triage was the first section to see the patients, here we took vitals, name, and age asking what the primary problem was. There was an overwhelming amount of people complaining of headaches primarily due to their long work hours in the bright sun and their lack of clean water access leading to dehydration. We felt guilty drinking our clean bottled water when these people were drinking water that had not been filtered and were suffering because of it (parasites, bacteria, etc.).

In Pediatrics it was a very busy day. The things that impacted us the most were twins that had not been able to eat much for the past 6 months. We gave them what we could as far as nutrition but we could almost see in the mother´s eyes that what we were asking of her might be harder than what we thought. We hope that what we provided was adequate for their needs.

During this experience we saw many things that would have been so easy to prevent or cure in the United States like yeast infections, UTI´s, or even something as simple as improper lifting leading to back pain. It is frustrating and sad to see such basic needs as these go untreated. It was a really rewarding experience but the needs are still so high and feel overwhelming.

Sally Senger

Mari Mote

Lauralee Howard

Angela Kees

Happy Birthday Laura

Thank you so much for spending it with us!

The Second Medical Clinic

“Easier the 2nd time…?”

When the second clinic day arrived we had an idea of what our tasks included. Just like we had done before, our group divided into sections. There was a section for triage, pediatrics and an adult section. The final stage was pharmacy.

There were two very interesting cases we came across in the adults section. One was of a woman who came in limping with her husband supporting her on one side. We did a head-to-toe assessment and consulted with a Peruvian doctor, who had joined us for a couple of hours, on her condition. This person was diagnosed with thrombophlebitis and required immediate medical attention. Arrangements were made and she was sent the regional hospital to be treated.

The other case consisted of a mother of three who clearly showed symptoms of postpartum depression. She had had a miscarriage two months ago when she was two months pregnant. Her other three children were happy and healthy, but the mom stated that she felt like the situation was her fault, even though there was no discernable reason for her loss. She was very open about her feelings and what her needs were. We talked to her about ways to cope and made sure to let her know that the situation she was in was in no way her fault. We stressed that any support she had, such as family and friends, she should use it, and she left looking very relieved.

Many of the people we saw had symptoms of dehydration, the most common of which was headache. Needless to say, we did a lot of teaching on how important it is to drink lots of water. We also had a lot of mothers who came to see us because they wanted parasite medication to treat their children. Many did in fact have parasites, but a few felt like they needed the medication for preventative measures. We did a great deal of education on our medications, including why they won’t work as prevention, only as treatment for true parasites. More education is imperative to ensure that this community understands when to seek medical attention and what types of preventative measures they can do at home, the most important of which is drinking clean water.

Maria Marshall

Carrie Ridenour

Three days and Two Nights in the Amazon Jungle

This is a small photo essay of the jungle trip. I wish I had time to post the thousands of pictures that the members of this group took while dancing with the Borah tribe to treating the villagers who had medical needs, teaching health related subjects to the children and adults, bird, sloth, spider and alligator watching, fishing for piranahs, playing with children and just trying to absorb the sights and sounds of the greatest Eco system on earth. The Amazon Rain Forest is called the "lungs of the earth" for good reason as it provides a large percent of the oxygen that we breath in all the continents of the world. We stayed at the People of Peru Project's 500 acre jungle facility where we teach the children elementary school, provide medical care and health education and partner with the local farmers for successful economic growth as our agricultural engineer teaches crop production and management.